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The trade deadline has come and gone, with many Yankees fans still simmering about it.

Aschenbrenner's leap back into big bets after narrowly avoiding imploding days earlier is the latest in a colorful history of high risks.

IRGC Strikes 'Hostile Targets' In Hormuz As Iran Declares Oman Deal Bans US Vessels From Strait Summary

• Explosions heard near Qeshm island - Iran says it struck 'hostile targets'.
• Iran parliament reviews draft Hormuz plan banning US- and Israel-linked vessels, oil rises
• Houthis intensify attacks on Saudi oil shipping in the Red Sea.
• Yemen fighting escalates amid reports of major casualties.
• Iran-Oman talks continue as US backs diplomatic solution, searches for offramp.

//--> //--> //--> US announces end of Iranian blockade by August 15, 2026?
Yes 60% · No 40%
View full market & trade on Polymarket Iran Struck 'Hostile Targets' in Strait of Hormuz: Fars

After explosions were heard on Qeshm island, near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media is saying that Iranian forces attacked and struck 'hostile targets' - though the event still remains shrouded in mystery and few details were offered. The US side has also not confirmed anything, and this could also be the result of drone activity. 

Iran remains defiant, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian having newly asserted in an interview, "Our enemies expected the country to collapse due to the pressures they have exerted." He added that these pressures have "reached their maximum". Oil jumped again on the reports of attacks in the Hormuz Strait area:

MS Now continues to report on the 'agreed upon' Iran-Oman deal for Hormuz transit:

Oman on Thursday agreed to the framework of a deal with Iran to temporarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the global crude oil export route that Washington and Tehran have been wrestling to control since the war began, two Middle East diplomats with knowledge of the negotiations told MS NOW.

The diplomats declined to describe the details of the temporary agreement or what issues remain unresolved. But an Iranian government official linked to the deal told MS NOW on Thursday morning that it will establish new shipping routes by allowing commercial vessels to enter the Persian Gulf through an Iranian-controlled route and exit through a route controlled by Oman.

This also as Iranian leaders continue to taunt Washington, with fresh messages such as the following from the country's influential parliament speaker:

“Massive attack coming… wait, never mind, they want to negotiate.”
That’s theater diplomacy on loop.

Using bullying + broken promises + fake news as leverage is a failed strategy.

Acknowledge the facts and fulfill your commitments. We don’t need more theater.

— محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) August 6, 2026 Deal Details: US-Israeli vessels Banned from Hormuz (Fars)

Iranian state media (Fars) has issued details of the Iran-Omani draft plan for transit rules through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. The country's parliament is said to currently be reviewing it, while Tehran still insists that the US has been sidelined, saying that the Oman-Iran contacts are bilateral.

As cited in Bloomberg from state media, key proposals include:

• Ban vessels linked to the U.S., Israel, and other hostile states
• Block military and civilian cargo tied to Israel
• Restrict ships linked to actions against the "Axis of Resistance"
• Deny passage to parties owing compensation to Iran
• Impose fines of up to 20% of cargo value for violations

The first note about banning US-linked vessels could alone serve to restart the war. The White House has appeared to genuinely be searching for an exit strategy, but this may be too hard a pill to swallow, if accurate.

Fars has spelled out that "The passage of vessels belonging to the US, the Israelis, and other hostile countries through the Strait of Hormuz will be prohibited." Below are is the fuller outline of the proposed plan as featured by Fars [machine translation]:

• The passage of vessels belonging to the United States, Israelis and other hostile countries through the Strait of Hormuz will be prohibited.
• Ships related to Israel, whether military or civilian, will not have the right to transit through this area.
• Vessels or cargoes that play a role in actions against the Resistance Front will also be subject to the ban.
• Countries and individuals that have caused damage to Iran will not receive permission to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf until compensation is paid.
• Heavy fines, including up to 20% of the value of the goods, will be imposed on violators. The cargo is anticipated.
• The government will be required, in cooperation with the armed forces, to assume responsibilities such as guiding navigation, monitoring vessel traffic, and protecting the security and environment of the Persian Gulf.
• This plan is still in the expert review stage, and the parliament has asked experts to submit their suggestions for completing it.

Oil spikes on the headlines of a very clearly 'Iran-favorable' 'deal' - which Washington is unlikely to simply accept.

Does this portend a return to active conflict?

Yemeni 'Blockade for Blockade' Could Threaten Delicate Hormuz Negotiations

Yesterday witnessed at least the eighth Saudi oil tanker attacked by the Houthis since the maritime blockade began on July 22, which is being followed by reports the Yemeni rebel group backed by Iran could be preparing for all-out war with Saudi Arabia.

The group struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Wednesday and coupled the action with a threat to intensify attacks in order to close "all access routes" to Saudi oil shipments. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree confirmed that ballistic missiles were launched at a Saudi tanker called Wafa near the Saudi port city of Yanbu.

A second oil tanker identified as Daisy was subsequently hit in the Gulf of Aden with a ballistic missile and "forced to turn back" - the spokesman said in a social media post. The Houthis are dubbing it a "blockade for blockade" strategy.

via AFP Large New Saudi-Backed Operation?

But it seems the Saudis aren't ready to take this laying down, even if the ratcheting Red Sea region conflict threatens fragile Oman-sponsored talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as on Thursday its proxy the Yemeni Armed Forces - representing the official government whose seat is in Aden in the south - announced preparations for a large new military operation.

This as Al Arabiya reports a fresh outbreak of ground fighting, in a renewal and intensification of the civil war that goes back to at least 2015 (and has an international proxy war aspect to it). The Arab publication says that a Houthi attack killed 45 government forces in Hadramawt and Marib in Yemen, areas which also happen to be home to the vast majority of the country's oil and gas fields.

Separately Al Jazeera describes of the same event:

The Yemeni Emergency Forces of the internationally-recognised government, have said that there have been material and human losses following attacks on its camps.

Several causalities have been reported after a suspected Houthi rocket and drone attack targeted bases hosting the forces in Marib and Hadramaut.

So now it seems that even if a grand Hormuz deal to reopen energy transit can be pulled off with some level of sticking power, there will have to be a separate ceasefire to contain the Yemen and Bab al-Mandab Strait crisis.

To some degree, the Houthi closure of the Red Sea to Saudi shipping represents a good cop, bad cop approach to the United States and its Gulf allies. It is a way for Tehran to still maintain some serious tangential leverage over global energy, even as ships in Hormuz could finally get moving again.

The Houthis launched ballistic missile and drone strikes on Saudi-backed Yemeni forces in Marib Governorate, targeting several military sites.

According to preliminary reports, at least 45 personnel were killed and dozens wounded, with Saudi-aligned media confirming the attacks… pic.twitter.com/uThIgebcfe

— Conflict Radar (@Conflict_Radar) August 6, 2026 Houthis Pivotal in Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' 

As a reminder, the Houthis have been part of what Iran sees as the "axis of resistance" going back to when the Shia rebel group first seized power in September 2014:

Saudi Arabia is now being squeezed from three directions in the widening U.S.-Iran war — Iraq to its northeast, Yemen to its southwest, and Iran to its east. (On July 18, Tehran struck Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, its first direct hit on Saudi soil in nearly four months.)

To understand why this matters beyond the price of oil, it helps to picture the crises as a set of nesting dolls.

The innermost doll is Yemen’s own civil war: a decade-old fight between the Houthis (officially known as Ansar Allah), who rule the populous north from Sana’a, and Yemen’s internationally recognized government, formally led by a body called the Presidential Leadership Council. The roots of this war trace to the 2011 Arab Spring revolution, which toppled Yemen’s long-serving president and left a power vacuum the Houthis moved to fill, seizing Sana’a in 2014. Saudi Arabia and a coalition of partners intervened in 2015 with the explicit aim of reversing that takeover and restoring the internationally recognized government, and the war has continued in one form or another ever since.

The middle doll is Saudi Arabia’s broader rivalry with Iran, a contest for regional leadership that has run since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Tehran’s new theocratic government began exporting a revolutionary, Shia-inflected challenge to the Gulf’s Sunni monarchies.

In the meantime, Al Jazeera is reporting Thursday that the Saudi-backed government shot down a drone operated by the Houthis over the city of Marib.

The country's official SABA news agency said the Houthi targeting of Marib "embodies their escalatory approach and their insistence on continuing their terrorist acts" and that "the air defenses engaged the drone as soon as it entered the city’s airspace and successfully shot it down."

Over in the Persian Gulf region, Iran officials have said a deal with Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is "on the verge of being finalized" which entry and exit routes and protocols having been established. Iran continues to say that Washington has nothing to do with this, and warns against US military interference.

The White House seems to be quite serious about ensuring an offramp from the conflict this time, as the bombs have fallen silent for several days now...

🇺🇸 US Vice President JD Vance said diplomatic negotiations with Iran are "going to be messy" and will "take some time," in an interview on Fox News, a more cautious tone than President Donald Trump, who claimed earlier this week that "a lot of progress" had been made.

🔹"That…

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) August 6, 2026 Trump: I'd Rather Make a Deal than Kill People

But lots of unknowns and variables remain, as some international reports suggest a final deal could be signed as early as the close of Thursday, or at least by week's end. Al Jazeera notes: "For Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the US must abide by the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with Iran in mid-June, although that would not be enough on its own, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in comments carried by Iran’s IRNA news agency."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has newly warned that "We're ready to ‌retaliate, but finding a diplomatic solution is the best way to avoid wider escalation and destruction ​across ‌the ⁠region."

Perhaps its indicative of general Iran war fatigue, but the US appears poised to agree to a deal that recognizes Iran's claim to control over the Strait of Hormuz--an unthinkable concession even a few weeks ago--and I'm seeing very little discussion of it among the commentariat.

— Gregory Brew (@gbrew24) August 6, 2026

As for President Trump, he has freshly stated, "I'd rather make a deal because I don't want to kill people. But Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon."

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/07/2026 - 06:00

The new watch, on sale today, tracks fitness and sleep, measures antioxidants in the skin, and an even do a body composition scan.

How The World Views China Vs The US In 2026

The United States and China are the world’s two preeminent superpowers, but views of them vary widely by country.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Gabriel Cohen, compares approval ratings for Beijing and Washington using survey results from more than 42,000 respondents across 36 countries.

The survey was conducted in February 2026 by the Pew Research Center.

China Now Leads in Global Favorability

Public opinion in many countries has shifted in China’s favor amid changes in U.S. diplomacy and foreign policy.

In 27 of the 36 countries surveyed, China received a higher approval rating than the United States. These include U.S. allies and neighbors such as Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

The following table lists 2026 approval ratings for China and the U.S. across all 36 countries surveyed.

Country Approval (%) of U.S. 🇺🇸 Approval (%) of China 🇨🇳 China-U.S. Gap (%) 🇵🇰 Pakistan 15 90 75 🇲🇾 Malaysia 19 75 56 🇵🇸 Palestine 9 57 48 🇮🇩 Indonesia 29 72 43 🇸🇬 Singapore 34 73 39 🇹🇭 Thailand 36 69 33 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka 42 72 30 🇧🇩 Bangladesh 26 56 30 🇹🇷 Turkey 13 43 30 🇪🇸 Spain 30 54 24 🇮🇹 Italy 31 51 20 🇲🇽 Mexico 40 59 19 🇬🇷 Greece 37 55 18 🇿🇦 South Africa 35 52 17 🇳🇬 Nigeria 63 78 15 🇰🇪 Kenya 63 76 13 🇨🇱 Chile 37 49 12 🇨🇦 Canada 33 44 11 🇵🇪 Peru 51 61 10 🇫🇷 France 27 36 9 🇳🇱 Netherlands 25 34 9 🇸🇪 Sweden 19 27 8 🇦🇺 Australia 24 31 7 🇦🇷 Argentina 44 50 6 🇩🇪 Germany 27 33 6 🇬🇧 UK 41 46 5 🇨🇴 Colombia 60 63 3 🇧🇷 Brazil 47 46 -1 🇬🇭 Ghana 68 64 -4 🇭🇺 Hungary 58 53 -5 🇵🇱 Poland 49 39 -10 🇵🇭 Philippines 56 40 -16 🇰🇷 South Korea 45 28 -17 🇮🇳 India 45 23 -22 🇯🇵 Japan 50 11 -39 🇮🇱 Israel 81 19 -62

Pakistan has the largest favorability gap. China has a 90% approval rating among Pakistanis, compared with 15% for the United States, a difference of 75 percentage points.

After Pakistan, the largest gaps are found in Malaysia, Palestine, and Indonesia. In each of these Muslim-majority countries, a majority of respondents view China favorably, while fewer than one-third view the United States favorably.

U.S. Soft Power Abroad

In the Americas, respondents in every surveyed country except Brazil view China more favorably than the United States.

The results from the United States’ two direct neighbors are particularly notable. One-third of Canadians and 40% of Mexicans view the U.S. favorably, compared with 44% and 59%, respectively, for China. Both countries have faced heightened trade tensions with their shared neighbor.

U.S. allies farther from North America tend to view Washington more favorably. The U.S. receives its highest approval rating in Israel (81%), followed by Ghana (68%) and Kenya and Nigeria (63% each).

Several U.S. allies closer in proximity to China also favor Washington over Beijing, including India, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.

Europe’s Balancing Act

Across Europe, China receives higher approval ratings than the United States in every surveyed country except Poland. In Poland, 49% of respondents view the U.S. favorably, compared with 39% for China.

Perceptions of the United States have declined across much of the continent. Long-standing U.S. allies such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands now rate China more favorably.

Economic tensions, tariffs, and disputes involving Greenland may have contributed to weaker transatlantic sentiment. However, the Pew survey measures public opinion rather than the specific reasons behind these views.

To learn more about how the two superpowers compete through their diplomatic networks, read China Tops Global Diplomacy Index on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/07/2026 - 05:45

Alexis Yearde, who competed alongside her in June, told The Post that she supports the decision. 

The ruling is in addition to $375m in fines Meta was already ordered to pay in the case, for a total of $942m.

County health officials identified a tick bite as the source for one of the four local infections.

"Promises Are Fairy Tales": NATO Will Not Accept Ukraine

Authored by Lucas Leiroz de Almeida via GlobalResearch.ca,

Apparently, the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO is increasingly being dismissed as unrealistic. Even the regime’s most hardline officials seem to have lost hope regarding Kiev’s accession to the Western military alliance, considering that such a move does not serve NATO’s current strategic interests.   

In a recent statement, Valery Zaluzhny – Ukraine’s current ambassador to the UK, former head of the country’s armed forces, now widely considered Zelensky’s top rival – asserted that Kiev will never join the Atlantic defense bloc. According to him, promises of membership are merely “fairy tales” that do not reflect reality.   

Zaluzhny stated that he is very familiar with NATO’s internal structures and understands how the bloc actually operates. According to him, promises regarding Ukraine’s entry into the bloc are nothing new. Over the course of 12 years working alongside alliance officials, Zaluzhny says he constantly heard such promises, yet saw no particular reason to believe they would materialize now.   

While lamenting that the alliance will never truly accept Ukraine as a member, Zaluzhny criticizes the current situation of the Western bloc, asserting that NATO’s military doctrine is outdated, making the alliance strategically inferior to Russia. Zaluzhny believes it is urgent for NATO to undergo comprehensive military reform and revise its doctrine to align with contemporary realities. He believes Ukraine could contribute to this process but regrets that this will not be possible, given the alliance’s refusal to accept Ukraine as a member.  

“I know NATO very well (…) or about 12 years, I personally worked to ensure that we adopted NATO standards, and every year I listened to fairy tales that we were about to join. Unfortunately, we will never join it (…) NATO will most likely remain in its current form and will spend another 12 years – just as Ukraine did – transitioning to the standards required to reach even half the level of the Russian Federation,” he said.   

Zaluzhny, however, does not entirely rule out the possibility of Ukraine joining a Western military organization. While acknowledging NATO’s lack of interest in admitting Ukraine, he alleges that his country could eventually join a “European military security bloc.” This would only be possible, however, if EU nations and the UK agreed to move forward with creating a regional military alliance outside the NATO umbrella – something many analysts doubt will happen, given American influence over European decision-making.   

In fact, there are some interesting points in Zaluzhny’s statement. He is correct in stating that Ukraine will never be accepted into NATO. The Kiev regime plays a very specific role in NATO’s war plans – precisely that of a proxy or external ally. NATO cannot include Ukraine as a member, as doing so would force the alliance to intervene directly in a war against Russia, which would obviously be a disaster, possibly even nuclear. In this sense, Ukraine’s role as a military proxy is only viable as long as the country remains outside the Western defense bloc.   

He is also right to criticize NATO’s outdated strategy regarding Russia. In fact, NATO decision-makers have never moved beyond the military doctrines of the last century. This has been clearly reflected in the current disastrous anti-Russian military campaign, in which the Kiev regime, guided by NATO, is suffering substantial losses.   

Zaluzhny, however, fails to point out how Ukraine is ignoring its own military tradition on the battlefield in favor of using precisely the same outdated NATO concepts. The military doctrine employed by Ukraine is not autonomous. Ukraine shares a military history with Russia rooted in their Soviet and imperial pasts. If the Ukrainians were following their own military doctrine, they would be using tactics similar to Russia’s -focused on preserving soldiers’ lives rather than conducting large-scale direct combat campaigns.   

However, the Ukrainian armed forces follow NATO orders, which is why they use outdated warfare techniques unsuited to the reality of contemporary combat -characterized by high technology and the massive use of drones. So, in practice, Ukraine would have nothing to add to NATO regarding military doctrine, since the country already adopted NATO’s own doctrine when it agreed to act as a proxy.   

A common argument used by proponents of Ukrainian accession is that the country could contribute to NATO with its real combat experience. In fact, the country has been facing Russia in a large-scale conflict for four years, gaining combat experience that no Western alliance nation possesses. The problem, however, is determining how much of the Ukrainian military apparatus will remain once the conflict ends. The regime has already lost nearly its entire original military contingent and is now relying on forced mobilization to keep its forces active. In this scenario, that experience may count for little, given that the soldiers involved in combat are mostly untrained men sent to certain death on the front lines.   

If NATO didn’t want Ukraine before – when it had the second-largest army in Europe – it certainly won’t accept it now, when it is a failed state fighting with the help of its civilians snatched off the streets. The Ukrainian dream of membership seems increasingly unattainable.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/07/2026 - 05:00

The nasty debate is dividing Republicans at a time when leftists are veering into full-bore communism as the solution for rising costs.

The man reportedly continued shouting profanities and making threatening remarks before the encounter turned physical.

A Turpin child who was rescued from her parents’ California “house of horrors” has warned the 16 “almost feral” kids found living in a feces-covered Ohio property that it will be hard for them to adjust when they are integrated into society. Julissa Turpin, 20, told NewsNation Thursday the Siders’ children will be able to...

An Australian air crew flew an American from an Antarctic base to a New Zealand hospital in a rare midwinter rescue.

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"Well, if the Democrats went crazy and the Republicans went sane, then I probably would be a Republican," he said.

Zelensky To Make First-Ever Visit To Serbia, In Symbolic 'Slap In The Face' For Russia

Serbia is set to host Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a major first of the war which could set off serious diplomatic tensions with Russia, a longtime Serbian ally and 'friend'.

Zelensky will arrive on this first-ever trip on Saturday, August 8, according to Ukrainian officials, despite that Serbia - as a Slavic and Orthodox Christian country - has historically maintained warm ties with Moscow.

via Wiki Commons

But Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has been a leader who has put a little distance between himself in Russia, for example skipping this year's Victory Day Parade in Moscow. He's also been accused of allowing Serbian arms to go to Ukraine, which he's denied.

"I believe we will discuss how and in what ways we can help each other on this issue (EU integration, ed.) and, if possible, learn something from one another," Vučić said of the upcoming visit.

"That also includes our cooperation in culture, sports, and everything else," the president added. Regional media indicated the two leaders are expected to address Ukraine's move toward EU membership, energy cooperation, as well as economic ties.

Zelensky is likely to lobby the Serbian government to take a tougher stance on Russia, for example by joining Western sanctions on Moscow.

President Vučić has consistently resisted calls to join anti-Russian international sanctions, however, stressing that the country's position on the matter will remain unchanged.

But Serbia is still hugely dependent on Russian energy, and just a week ago it was reported that— 

Serbia secured another sanctions waiver from the United States for ​its Russian-owned oil company NIS, energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic ‌said on Friday, allowing the firm that supplies most of the country's fuel demand to continue importing crude oil until August 28.

The waiver granted by the U.S. Office ​of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) gives NIS, which operates Serbia's only oil ​refinery, more time while Hungary's oil and gas firm MOL negotiates ⁠the purchase of the Russian majority stake in the company.

As for Zelensky's state visit, the Kremlin is surely not pleased, given the symbolic nature of Belgrade opening up to Ukraine in essence.

Serbia has stood accused of becoming a key element in NATO's Balkan arms pipeline of secretive transfers...

Seems Zelenskyy (may) visit Serbia next days/weeks. It follows a long, secretive (but certainly not secret) and massive sale of Serbian ammunition to kill thousands of Russians, facilitated by USA, which made Serbia billions of $ and bought Vucic tolerance with Western capitals. https://t.co/Hpc7ba8LCv

— Petrit Selimi (@Petrit) August 6, 2026

An unnamed senior Ukrainian official made no secret of Zelensky's intent is. "We need to pull the Serbs away from Russia’s side," the official said, calling the unprecedented visit to Belgrade a "slap in the face for the Russians."

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/07/2026 - 02:45

The country singer said her Christian faith prevented her from taking shortcuts to land big tours in Nashville.

The country singer said her Christian faith prevented her from taking shortcuts to land big tours in Nashville.

A North Carolina career criminal is accused of randomly punching and hospitalizing a woman while chasing down another victim in a separate attack as he posted the disturbing footage across social media.